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 Post subject: Swine Flu
PostPosted: Sat Apr 25, 2009 7:36 pm 
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WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said the outbreak in Mexico and the United States constituted a "public health emergency of international concern."

The decision means countries around the world will be asked to step up reporting and surveillance of the disease, which she said had "pandemic potential" because it is an animal virus strain infecting people. But the agency cannot at this stage say "whether or not it will indeed cause a pandemic," she added.

Chan made the decision to declare public health emergency of international concern after consulting with influenza experts from around the world. The emergency committee was called together Saturday for the first time since it was created in 2007.

In theory, WHO could now recommend travel advisories, trade restrictions or border closures, none of which would be binding. So far it has refrained from doing so.

The agency also held off raising its pandemic alert level, citing the need for more information.

Earlier, Chan told reporters that "it would be prudent for health officials within countries to be alert to outbreaks of influenza-like illness or pneumonia, especially if these occur in months outside the usual peak influenza season."

"Another important signal is excess cases of severe or fatal flu-like illness in groups other than young Ch*ldren and the elderly, who are usually at highest risk during normal seasonal flu," she said.

Several Latin American and Asian countries have already started surveillance or screening at airports and other points of entry.

At least 62 people have died from severe pneumonia caused by a flu-like illness in Mexico, WHO says. Some of those who died are confirmed to have a unique flu type that is a combination of bird, pig and human viruses. The virus is genetically identical to one found in California.

U.S. authorities said eight people were infected with swine flu in California and Texas, and all recovered.

So far, no other countries have reported suspicious cases, according to WHO.

But the French government said suspected cases are likely to occur in the coming days because of global air travel. A French government crisis group began operating Saturday. The government has already closed the French school in Mexico City and provided French citizens there with detailed instructions on precautions.

Chilean authorities ordered a sanitary alert that included airport screening of passengers arriving from Mexico. No cases of the disease have been reported so far in the country, Deputy Health Minister Jeanette Vega said, but those showing symptoms will be sent to a hospital for tests.

In Peru, authorities will monitor travelers arriving from Mexico and the U.S. and people with flu-like symptoms will be evaluated by health teams, Peru's Health Ministry said.

Brazil will "intensify its health surveillance in all points of entry into the country," the Health Ministry's National Health Surveillance Agency said in a statement. Measures will also be put in place to inspect cargo and luggage, and to clean and disinfect aircraft and ships at ports of entry.

Some Asian nations enforced checks Saturday on passengers from Mexico.

Japan's biggest international airport stepped up health surveillance, while the Philippines said it may quarantine passengers with fevers who have been to Mexico. Health authorities in Thailand and Hong Kong said they were closely monitoring the situation.

Asia has fresh memories of an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, which hit countries across the region and severely crippled global air travel.

Indonesia, China, Thailand, Vietnam and other countries have also seen a number of human deaths from H5N1 bird flu, the virus that researchers have until now fingered as the most likely cause of a future pandemic.

The Dutch government's Institute for Public Health and Environment has advised any traveler who returned from Mexico since April 17 and develops a fever over 101.3 degrees Fahrenheit (38.5 Celsius) within four days of arriving in the Netherlands to stay at home.

The Polish Foreign Ministry has issued a statement that recommends that Poles postpone any travel plans to regions where the outbreak has occurred until it is totally contained.

The Stockholm-based European Center for Disease Prevention and Control said earlier Saturday it shared the concerns about the swine flu cases and stood ready to lend support in any way possible.

___

Associated Press Writer Maria Cheng in London, and AP writers around the world contributed to this report.



Comming in a month, hope this clears up :shock:

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PostPosted: Sun Apr 26, 2009 10:02 am 
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Maybe this will wake up washington to seal off our southern border. I have always maintained that the porous southern border is a major public health threat. With the massive illegal immigraton we have seen, diseases that were long gone from the our country( TB, plague,) are making a comeback in border towns in Texas ect. This puts all of us at risk.

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PostPosted: Sun Apr 26, 2009 12:44 pm 
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This morning, the news said 81 dead in Mexico, mostly Mexico City which is now on lock-down.

From a Costa Rican perspective, I think we are okay since there is little travel south from Mexico to CR. California and Texas, not so much. :(

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PostPosted: Sun Apr 26, 2009 1:55 pm 
Pacifica55 wrote:
From a Costa Rican perspective, I think we are okay since there is little travel south from Mexico to CR. California and Texas, not so much. :(


My only concern is the amount of travel from TX and CA to Costa Rica. Two fights daily from Houston to Liberia, 3 per week from DFW to Liberia. I know there are daily flights from both to San Jose. Not sure on the CA flights in and out of Costa Rica as I am a Texan living and working in Guanacaste.

I can also say that I have 47 employees who were out sick yesterday and with the day still young today it looks to have increased by about 20 or so more for today.


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PostPosted: Sun Apr 26, 2009 2:11 pm 
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47 workers sick in CR or TX?
IMHO some flu out there is a ticking time bomb
I do that let that bother me when your time is up ....
Plus any self respecting germ wou not live in my body


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PostPosted: Sun Apr 26, 2009 6:43 pm 
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Seems ok. 4 cases 'ruled out' as not possible Swine Flu: http://insidecostarica.com/dailynews/2009/april/26/nac01.htm

Articles, past 24 hours, mentioning Costa Rica's Health Minister chica and 'swine flu': http://news.google.com/news?um=1&ned=us&hl=en&q=%22Maria+Luisa+Avila%22&cf=all&as_qdr=d&as_drrb=q

I'll be honest, I got pretty sick from the normal flora and fauna on my most recent trip to San Jose last week. Got a little bit of a fever, joint pains, aches, and some tiredness. Took 2 panadol along with a nice shot (or three) or Smirnoff ... of course, later in the day so I didn't kill my liver or kidney. That seems to solve most things for me.

In this case by Friday I was feeling fine. My favorita had just also bounced back from some lovely little organismo, so I probably picked that up. I really think my immune system is much higher due to my continued exposure to ... well, everything in this world.

That and some slip-and-slide. :lol:


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PostPosted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 12:02 am 
Nhhank wrote:
47 workers sick in CR or TX?
IMHO some flu out there is a ticking time bomb
I do that let that bother me when your time is up ....
Plus any self respecting germ wou not live in my body



47 employees in Costa Rica


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PostPosted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 10:38 am 
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Costa Rica's Health Minister is another chica politician like so many others that seem to populate CR's government and we all know what is on their agenda. With all the problems facing CR, what all of them seem to be most concerned about is the scourge that us old gringos bring to CR with our mongering. From the Health Minister perspective that means the grave threat of STI's for its poor working chicas that is spread by the foul perverted gringos that come to CR to corrupt them.

As for the 47 workers who did not show up for work in CR at CRGolfers company, that is just panic pure and simple. We're probably not talking the most educated sophisticated people here and I strongly suspect that the ones who did not show up for work are not sick at all. Some may have some hypochondriacal symptoms that they THINK might be swine flu, but I doubt any of them have actually been to Mexico since this particular flu first showed up or even had direct family members who have that they could have caught it from. And I'd be willing to bet the VAST majority of these workers at this one company who have all "become sick" are just freaking out and are afraid they might get it from someone else at work.

According to the article above, at least 62 people have died in Mexico (a country of 100M) from what APPEARS to be swine flu but only SOME of those cases have been CONFIRMED. Pac 55 says that number is now up to 81, mostly Mexico City. Okay, thats more worrisome but still very small for a country that size. Again according to the article at the top, in the US (a country of 300M) only 8 people were infected with swine flu in California and Texas, and ALL recovered. And according to ZeeBraWon's article, CR has found 5 POSSIBLE cases and have already ruled out 4 of them (with the 5th still being tested). And, so far, according to that first article, WHO reports no other countries have reported ANY suspicious cases. Actually I heard that there were a FEW suspicious cases reported as far away as Canada and Australia among SOME people who had travelled to Mexico. But I also heard the strains of this disease that have appeared elsewhere were much less severe than those in Mexico and all of them appear treatable by existing medication like Tamiflu if treated early. And the CDC is working in cooperation with drug manufacturers to prepare even more effective shots based on this particular strain of swine flu.

In summary, we're still talking about a relatively tiny almost insignificant handful of it ... so far at least. These various countries have declared public health emergencies not because we have an actual pandemic, but rather out of an abundance of caution to PREVENT that from happening.


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PostPosted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 12:27 pm 
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Pacifica55 wrote:
......
From a Costa Rican perspective, I think we are okay since there is little travel south from Mexico to CR. California and Texas, not so much. :(


Think again.... 3 flights arriving from Mexico City into SJO today. http://www.alterra.co.cr/fiws/

Berk....

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PostPosted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 12:50 pm 
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Prolijo wrote:
....These various countries have declared public health emergencies not because we have an actual pandemic, but rather out of an abundance of caution to PREVENT that from happening.


I am going to disagree. "Swine" flu is NOT your common, run of the mill influenza and for good reason. It's generally much more virulent with a higher mortality rate taking young adults in their 20's and 30's.
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I'm a specialist doctor in respiratory diseases and intensive care at the Mexican National Institute of Health. There is a severe emergency over the swine flu here. More and more patients are being admitted to the intensive care unit. Despite the heroic efforts of all staff (doctors, nurses, specialists, etc) patients continue to inevitably die. The truth is that anti-viral treatments and vaccines are not expected to have any effect, even at high doses. It is a great fear among the staff. The infection risk is very high among the doctors and health staff.
There is a sense of chaos in the other hospitals and we do not know what to do. Staff are starting to leave and many are opting to retire or apply for holidays. The truth is that mortality is even higher than what is being reported by the authorities, at least in the hospital where I work it. It is killing three to four patients daily, and it has been going on for more than three weeks. It is a shame and there is great fear here. Increasingly younger patients aged 20 to 30 years are dying before our helpless eyes and there is great sadness among health professionals here.
Antonio Chavez, Mexico City


http://scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure/2009/04/swine_flu_what_you_dont_know_h.php

Berk......

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PostPosted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 2:38 pm 
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St. Francis Prep High School in New York City is closed after several students went to Mexico with their families and brought it back here. As many as 150 students believe to possibly be infected.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/200 ... bbing.html


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PostPosted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 3:25 pm 
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Berk,
Where did I say that swine flu was like your "common, run of the mill influenza"? What I said was that this was NOT an actual pandemic, at least not yet. There is a certain degree that any of the diseases like this, whether its Ebola SARS, etc. MIGHT turn into one. Remember those scares? That is why the various health agencies are being very careful.

I also never said this flu, or other earlier forms of swine flu, was like your garden varieties of influenza that most of us are more familiar with or have even had at some point in our lives. IF you catch it, even if this stuff doesn't kill you, it can put you in the hospital or even ICU and people, even younger healthier people, can and have died from it. This particular form of swine flu IN MEXICO appears to be even more sickening and deadly than those others. Maybe the ""anti-viral treatments and vaccines are not expected to have any effect, even at high doses" THERE, but I also never said those treatments were working IN MEXICO.

What I said was "the strains of this disease that have appeared elsewhere were much less severe than those in Mexico and all of them appear treatable by existing medication like Tamiflu if treated early. And the CDC is working in cooperation with drug manufacturers to prepare even more effective shots based on this particular strain of swine flu." AND MORE SIGNIFICANTLY the numbers that are appearing in these OTHER countries, THUS FAR, are pretty insignificant and certainly nothing to justify a panic or the sensationalistic and alarmist reports that some people are making. That is not to say, I'd want to catch this virus but I don't see it as the "henny-penny the sky is falling" that some people seem to be portraying. It is a serious matter and it should be watched, but it is being handled and until it becomes much more serious than it is so far it is not something that we should worry about or panic from.

It wouldn't surprise me if we wind up having some deaths from this in the US, in fact it would surprise me a little if we didn't, but we've got a LOOONNNGGG way to go before this turns into a pandemic like the ones we experienced after WWI or even from the current HIV pandemic.


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PostPosted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 4:21 pm 
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What I read in that article is that only 8 of those students have actually been confirmed to have the virus so far (and none of them has died). Only about a dozen students had actually been on that trip to Mexico. The rest are afraid they may have caught the virus from them after they got back, but I'm guessing a huge part of this is the other students AND their parents freaking out (as I'm sure most of us probably would in their situation). Sure scores of students visited the school nurse's office, SAYING they felt ill and some of them actually might have caught the bug, but I suspect it is mostly understandable paranoia. After all, if I were in their situation and I had even a tiny sniffle or a 99 degree temperature, I'd probably be right behind them in line to check with the nurse.

The private school is taking pretty extreme measures, not only shutting down for a couple of days but also sending guys in with masks to completely disinfect the school and it MIGHT even be necessary, but I think they're just being extra cautious and responsive to the parents concerned (or fearful that those rich and influential parents will sue or take their K*ds out of that school if they don't do everything they could) rather than they're basing it on any science.

And this is just one small private school. The article also said that none of the public schools in NYC have been closed because of this. In fact, the entire back end of that article paints a much more calming read on the situation than the headline would suggest

Quote:
...Although St. Francis will be closed until at least Wednesday, the city's public schools remain open and parents are being told not to panic. For now, at least, health officials have found no evidence the virus has spread in New York, and a suspected outbreak at a Bronx day care center has so far proven to be a false alarm.

"We are looking for outbreaks elsewhere in the city. So far, there does not seem to be any outbreak," Mayor Bloomberg said. "We have not had the kinds of reporting of drug sales - prescription or over the counter - check-ins at hospitals, doctors saying they're seeing an abnormally large number of people that are sick. We just haven't had that."

"Obviously, the principals and school nurses and teachers are going to be hypersensitive, and if they see anything suspicious, it'll get right through to us," he said. ...

Among the students at the school is state Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith's daughter, a sophomore who the Queens Democrat says has remained healthy. He admitted to some trepidation. "There's no question there's a lot of concern when you're a parent and your daughter comes home and you hear of an outbreak that could be life-threatening," Smith said.

If K*ds start dropping dead in NY or mongers start returning from CR with cases of this swine flu, then I think such stories will merit posting about in this forum. Until then, I think repeating stories like this and posting them out of context only fans the irrational fear and alarmism that has been going on around this issue.


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PostPosted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 4:49 pm 
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Just updated dead now # 149 in Mexico and +20 more in the NYC case count plus WHO upgraded to a Global pendemic. Think I staying out of airports for awhile but then again I may already by infected. Been feeling run down the last few days. Hope it's not related. :cry:


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PostPosted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 6:11 pm 
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Jester wrote:
Just updated dead now # 149 in Mexico and +20 more in the NYC case count plus WHO upgraded to a Global pendemic. Think I staying out of airports for awhile but then again I may already by infected. Been feeling run down the last few days. Hope it's not related. :cry:
I suspect the number of dead in Mexico from this disease is already much higher than 149 and that the government is under-reporting for PR reasons, much as Vietnam and some of the Asian countries did with Avian Flu a few years ago. I think the US government reporting is probably much more reliable but even there is subject to some lag due to testing and reporting delays. But, even so, these numbers are still extremely tiny.

BTW, to clarify Jester's report that is +20 more in NYC that have been DIAGNOSED with this flu not now dead as some of ones in Mexico. Presumably the 40 diagnosed cases in the US are being isolated and treated with the medications Tamiflu (Oseltamivir) or Relenza (Zanamivir) which according to the CDC HAVE been found to be effective in treating this swine flu strain (H1N1). Cases are bound to increase but at this stage 40 people or even 4000 people out of a population of 300 million is not enough to make me worry whether I'll catch this from a fellow at work or a neighbor down the street.

Jester, unless you've just come back from Mexico yourself or been in CLOSE proximity to someone else who has AND who was already symptomatic and contagious, I wouldn't worry at all about having this strain of flu. Heck, I had sex with a prostitute and I've been feeling a little rundown lately so I guess I must have HIV. That IS a pandemic and its been around for years but you don't see us posting the body count which is much higher.

BTW, I just checked the WHO EPR home page (Epidemic and Pandemic Alert and Response) and I didn't see anything about them upgrading this to a "Global Pandemic". In fact, what I read was "The current situation constitutes a public health emergency of international concern. However, more information is needed before a decision could be made concerning the appropriateness of the current alert level." In fact, more recentlym they posted this:
Quote:
The Director-General has raised the level of influenza pandemic alert from the current phase 3 to phase 4.

The change to a higher phase of pandemic alert indicates that the likelihood of a pandemic has increased, but not that a pandemic is inevitable.

As further information becomes available, WHO may decide to either revert to phase 3 or raise the level of alert to another phase

Furthermore, and more relevant to us, they posted this:
Quote:
WHO advises no restriction of regular travel or closure of borders. It is considered prudent for people who are ill to delay international travel and for people developing symptoms following international travel to seek medical attention, in line with guidance from national authorities.


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